Few simple foods are more vexing to cook than rice for whatever reason. Recently, Marisa tried a new Tiger rice cooker that takes all the guess work out of that job. Joy covets the Instapot, which is a rice cooker/slow cooker/pressure cooker in one. What do you think? Should she get one?

Have you ever been to a food swap? That’s a community event when home cooking fanatics get together to trade some of their stash of good eats for some of yours. Marisa co-organizes one in the Philly area, but if you are interested you can probably find one close to where you are. Find yours (or start one) here.

This episode features an interview with Leanne Brown, whose food-stamp-themed cookbook Good and Cheap has really struck a chord with people in all income brackets. We talked to her at the Philadelphia Free Library’s amazing Culinary Literacy Center.

We recorded this one in the middle of a heat wave, and no-cook dinners were on both our minds. We swapped tips on entree salads. Here’s more about that shredded salad Marisa mentioned. And here are a few more salad tips (plus a vinaigrette recipe) from Joy.

Here’s the recipe (and video) that helped Joy master making mayonnaise with an immersion blender. (Public service announcement: Always unplug before even thinking about touching those blades!)